Round-up: Poetry

Published on Friday 20 June 2008 17:20

SELECTED POEMS Fiona Pitt-Kethley Salt Publishing, £12.99

Fiona Pitt-Kethley's poems have all the artistic merit of a breeze block with the word "cocks" carved on it.Fiona Pitt-Kethley's poems have all the artistic merit of a breeze block with the word "cocks" carved on it. With the authority and directness of a sexpert and experienced doyenne on such matters, her poems dole advice to the Everywoman, mostly on sex and men. Shouty and brash, oozing self-pleased bravado and a profound lack of subtlety and nuance, these are, for the most part, hilariously awful doggerel spread-eagled proudly on the page.

Try instead: Veronica Forrest-Thomson, Selected Poems

TWO CURES FOR LOVE: SELECTED POEMS 1979 – 2006

Wendy Cope

Faber, 12.99

Here is a treat for all who have ever floundered at the cliff-face of Wendy Cope's parodies and literary in-jokes. Inspired by crossed wires in school pupils, this collection features notes to help the intrepid reader to fully appreciate Cope's playful treatment of Hughes, Eliot et al. Though it is the meditative pauses that can evoke the most admiration from this linguistic magpie, a new combination of her earwigging, bathos, the return of Strugnell and wry take on relationships is still welcome.

Also try: Liz Lochhead, The Colour Of Black And White

SLAUGHTERING BEETROOT

Angela McSeveney

Mariscat Press, 5

Angela McSeveney's new offering meditates on matters domestic, pastoral and sartorial with winning ease. From 'Slaughtering Beetroot' with its "great medallions of wet flesh", to the tender machinations of love evoked in 'The Uses Of A White Cane', McSeveney (pictured) engages the reader in simple, private moments. The day-to-day's humorous exchange is overlaid with sincerity, frailty and warmth, while the way she dwells on hats, grey hair and such minutiae is quietly appealing.

Also try: Janice Galloway, Boy Book See